CMP breaks ground on $30M substation in Kennebunk

KENNEBUNK, Maine — Central Maine Power began construction last week on a new $30 million substation in this community, just a piece of the company’s $1.4 billion Maine Power Reliability Program.

The new Maguire Road Substation is one of five new 345,000-volt substations the company is building as part of the MPRP, a five-year project to upgrade Maine’s bulk power transmission system and enable the integration of new energy resources in the region, according to the company.

“The new Maguire Road Substation will be the cornerstone of our improvements in York County,” Doug Herling, CMP’s vice president of special projects, said in a statement. “It will ensure long-term reliability and add capacity for the transmission system in one of the fastest growing areas of the state.”

The new substation will be built as an expansion of the company’s existing facility in Kennebunk. The early stages of work will involve clearing and excavating the 4-acre site. CMP expects to complete construction at the site in 2014.

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Besides building five new 345,000-volt substations, CMP will as part of the MPRP make upgrades to more than 40 existing substations, and install or rebuild roughly 450 miles of transmission lines in 75 communities from Eliot to Orrington. The company expects to complete the project in 2015.

The MPRP could generate nearly 3,000 jobs in direct and indirect employment during the peak years of construction, according to the company.